��This Bracelet is Worth Three��; Calvin Anderson Joins Five-Timer Club in Event #88: $10,000 Eight Game Mixed Championship
Stud Games: 20,000 Ante, 30,000 Bring-In, 100,000 Completion 100,000-200,000 Limits
No-Limit & Pot-Limit: 50,000/75,000 Ante, 25,000/50,000 Blinds
After a pair of podium finishes earlier this summer, Calvin Anderson had to sleep on the chip lead for one extra night in Event #88: $10,000 Eight Game Mixed Championship. The added Day 4 at the 2024 World Series of Poker was well worthwhile for the American pro, as he conquered a difficult field of 189 players to claim career bracelet number five and the top prize of $413,446 at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Anderson returned for an additional day of action against Japan's Dai Ishibashi, sitting with a sizeable chip lead in his quest for another WSOP title. It took just less than a single 90-minute level to finish the job, sending his rail into celebration while Anderson just took it in stride.
��I��ve never really taken down a big eight-game tournament, this is what the player��s championship used to be,�� Anderson told PokerNews after his victory. ��To win this is certainly a great accomplishment, what I set out to do. I have a lot of titles in different games, but then you throw them all in the mix and to navigate a field like this, it��s rewarding, it feels really good actually to accomplish something like that.��
$10,000 Eight Game Mixed Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calvin Anderson | United States | $413,446 |
| 2 | Dai Ishibashi | Japan | $271,351 |
| 3 | Ali Eslami | United States | $182,938 |
| 4 | Mike Watson | Canada | $126,780 |
| 5 | Paul Gunness | United States | $90,389 |
| 6 | Tom Koral | United States | $66,353 |
Third Time��s the Charm
Anderson entered the day having already earned his third final table of the summer, holding an almost two-to-one chip lead over Ishibashi. After a third-place finish in Event #10: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship (8-Handed) and a runner-up result in Event #37: $10,000 Big O Championship, Anderson was able to close out one of the most significant titles of his career.
��I��m happy, excited, I��m happy that I won,�� Anderson said after posing for winner photos. ��If I had lost heads-up given how much I��ve played and how much experience I have, I would have been upset - given I came in two-to-one chip lead, played these games so much.��
The win brings Anderson��s total to five WSOP gold bracelets, but this one seemed to stand out a bit more. ��Five bracelets doesn��t mean any more than two or seven, you know, but this tournament is actually a bit more special, and I normally don��t say that.��
Anderson took a moment and explained how grateful he felt to take down this title. ��Just winning eight games, a 10k buy in, this is a championship event.��
��You��re playing a bunch of different games against all of the top players, I played against tons of really, really good players along the way. I ran good but I think I played really well too, there��s a lot of spots where I��m super happy with the way that I played. Feels good to do all of the things right.��
Anderson then finished his thought by saying ��This bracelet is worth three to me, probably.��
Day 4 Action
Anderson and Ishibashi returned to the felt having locked up at least $271,351. The event had a total prize pool of $1,757,700 , with the top prize of $413,446 still to be decided.
Once Anderson increased his chip lead, both players knew which games to target. ��He played well, he held his own for the most part. In the end he knew, I knew, everyone knew that he needed to go high variance in no-limit and PLO games, and even limit hold��em is a big game too.��
��In PLO I was only limping, in hold��em I was playing pretty freaking passive,�� Anderson continued, ��where normally, throughout the tournament, I was actually bullying other people in those games.��
��The last hand of the day, I did not want to get it in with ace-king-queen-nine, but he knew he needed to gamble there. Maybe my hand was a little bit better than I thought it was, but it��s just not a situation I want to be in where I can hand-read so well in every other game.��
That final hand saw Anderson surprised to be ahead on the flop when the chips hit the middle, with his hand holding up to end Ishibashi��s run.
Just minutes after claiming the title, Anderson was already looking ahead to his next event. ��The summer is long, I don��t really celebrate in the same way that other people do, the journey of it all is so rewarding to me, playing, winning. I feel happy.��
That concludes our coverage of this championship event, but stay tuned to PokerNews for continuing coverage of the WSOP Main Event from the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.